Ten Rules of Great Companies

Ten Rules of Great Companies

Preach consistency of action in goals and performance standards to cultivate focus.

Successful organizations should stress long-term planning and an intense focus on understanding their own businesses and markets, say authors Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen in the book, Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck: Why Some Thrive Despite Them All (HarperBusiness/Available now). While many firms charge ahead with gambles on what consumers will want next, Collins and Morten advise a more measured approach. The authors base their findings on nine years of researching top companies, during which they deployed a 20-member team. They dub the companies in focus as the “10Xers,” meaning they’ve built enterprises that constantly outperform their industry averages. A former Stanford Graduate School of Business instructor, Collins is a Boulder, Colo.-based management expert. Hansen is a management professor at the University of California, Berkley. For more about the book, click here.